1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic mail. More specifically, the present invention relates to techniques for displaying electronic mail messages selectively based on time periods specified by a user.
2. Description of Background
Electronic mail, commonly abbreviated “e-mail”, is a form of computer-based communication. To communicate via electronic mail, a sender sends an electronic mail message to one or more recipients. Senders and recipients are each identified using electronic mail addresses. Most electronic mail messages include textual data. In many electronic mail messages, the textual data is marked up using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Additionally, an electronic mail message may include attachments. An attachment is a file transmitted with an electronic mail message. Attachments may contain any of a variety of types of data.
Electronic mail may be transmitted via the Internet. On the Internet, an electronic mail address is generally expressed in the form “<user>@<domain>”. In this form, “<domain>” is the Internet domain name of a specific host on the Internet. The host may handle all electronic mail for an organization or a significant subset thereof. “<user>”, in turn, identifies a specific user at this host. Thus, an electronic mail address expressed in this form uniquely identifies an Internet user. Electronic mail may also be transmitted via networks other than the Internet, including internal or proprietary networks. It is noted that on networks other than the Internet, electronic mail addresses may be expressed in forms other than the foregoing.